Wednesday, April 28, 2010

What is This Lovely Fragrance?

Even with the odor of the Gulf oil spill drifting into the Bay area, the air in My Florida Backyard is full of sweetness these days. So sweet, in fact, that it would be nice if Smell-o-vision had ever taken off, so we could share it with you. Since we can't, here are some nice shots of the two blooms providing the most fragrance in our little slice of the world.

The passionvine (Passiflora incarnata) flowers are providing part of the scent explosion:

which seems especially strong at night.

“To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat.” 
- Beverly Nichols

5 comments:

  1. Mmmmm, I love the fragrance of these flowers. My passion vine is currently chewed up from the Gulf Frit cats. I hope it comes back and blooms this year. Last summer it was very strong and was HUGE and full of blooms AND cats. This year it came back late and the butterflies found it while it was still pretty small. Enjoy your fragrant, Florida Backyard.

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  2. Wow, those passionflower photos are beautiful! My sister calls it the "alien flower." Such amazing details! I've been noticing the scent of the confederate jasmine as well lately. We are fortunate, I guess, to be far enough inland that we can't smell the weird chemical odors here. ---from the "other" Floridagirl in the Peace River Valley.

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  3. NanaK - The Frit cats have been chewing up my passionvine as well (that's really why I have it) but the buds keep opening anyway!

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  4. Passionflowers really are exotic and lovely. Confederate jasmine is one of my favorite vines...it's a "must-have" in the garden.

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  5. I'm very sorry to hear about the oil spill. How near are you to the ocean? Anyways, here's a link to a post I did on floating the blooms in water if you're interested.
    http://therainforestgarden.blogspot.com/2010/01/decor-floating-flowers.html
    The other one is "incensa" and smells sweeter and stronger than any other flower I've sniffed! I also picked the flowers and let them sun dry, using them as potpourri.

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